The scene seemed perfect, as if it were scripted by an imaginative Hollywood writer.

Callum Walsh, the ascending Irishman, delivered a quick, picturesque right uppercut that left Dean Sutherland crumpled in a heap, unable to continue. The crowd inside The Theater at Madison Square Garden erupted the night before St. Patrick’s Day.

Walsh won by first-round knockout. His record improved to 13-0, including 11 knockouts.

The hype intensified immediately for a 24-year-old southpaw who works with Hall-of-Fame trainer Freddie Roach. Dana White, president and CEO of UFC, cheered from ringside as the only boxer regularly showcased on his popular company’s streaming service extended his knockout streak to four.

The problem, it should be noted, is that this isn’t scripted entertainment.

Maybe Walsh will develop into a contender in the stacked junior middleweight division. Quick knockouts of Scotland’s Sutherland (19-2, 7 KOs) and Poland’s Przemyslaw Runowski (22-3-1, 6 KOs) just haven’t done anything to cement him as such.

Walsh knocked out Runowski in the second round of his previous bout September 20 at 3Arena in Dublin. Sutherland couldn’t even make it to the second round.

This is all part of the matchmaking and promotional process when trying to build boxing stars. There is nothing necessarily wrong with it, as long they can lure Walsh’s supporters to the box office and have a willing promotional partner, in this case White.

A crowd of approximately 3,500 attended Sunday’s show, about 1,600 short of a sellout at The Theater in the heart of Manhattan. UFC Fight Pass doesn’t divulge viewership numbers, thus it is not known how many people watched Walsh’s demolition of Sutherland.

But before Walsh assures us that he is markedly more capable than John Duddy, the last Irishman they tried to sell as a future world champion at The Garden, he’ll have to defeat tougher opponents than Runowski and Sutherland. His handlers have lowered his level of opposition since Walsh was dropped in the ninth round and tested by Ismael Villarreal in November 2023 at The Theater.

Walsh won that bout by unanimous decision. Veteran judges Max De Luca and Glenn Feldman scored eight rounds apiece for Walsh, who won 97-92 on each of their cards.

The Bronx’s Villarreal deserved better than that, more, too, than the three rounds Eric Marlinski scored for him (96-93).

That said, Walsh has some momentum. He also competes in a stacked division in which he’ll have to face better opponents than Villarreal (14-3, 10 KOs), who was knocked out by Brandon Adams (25-4, 16 KOs) in the third round of his following fight, if he were to take a chance against anyone in The Ring’s top 10 at junior middleweight.

His promoter, Tom Loeffler, told The Ring that Walsh is more than willing to accept such risks.

“There are so many great matchups for Callum,” Loeffler said. “He’s 24 years old and only has [13] fights, and we don’t wanna rush him. But the way he’s developing under Freddie Roach, I would say a year to two years he’s ready to fight for a title. And there’s some great matchups there for him, even in a non-title fight, like a Xander Zayas. Those are two young guys, both undefeated. That’s a great fight at The Garden. Xander fought there a few times already, so there are some tremendous matchups for Callum.”

Zayas (21-0, 13 KOs) is the WBO’s No. 1-ranked contender in the 154-pound division. With a shot at the winner of the Sebastian Fundora-Chordale Booker bout Saturday night in Las Vegas awaiting him, the Puerto Rican contender is unlikely to fight Walsh anytime soon.

There would be plenty of other experienced, ranked 154-pound opponents willing to face Walsh, though. Will Walsh’s handlers embrace those types of challenges, or keep scheduling opponents like Sutherland and Runowski?

If they’re going to continue touting the Cork native as “The Fastest Rising Star In Boxing,” it is more than reasonable to expect who Walsh fights moving forward becoming at least as important as when and where.

KNEEJERK NICK: Nick Ball half-jokingly thanked referee Michael Alexander during post-fight interviews for not deducting a point from him for kneeing TJ Doheny from behind after the first round ended Saturday night at Echo Arena in Ball’s hometown of Liverpool.

Ball immediately realized Alexander would’ve been well within reason for taking a point from him for such a flagrant foul. The WBA featherweight champion contended that Doheny holding him in a front face lock for several seconds warranted that type of retaliation once the bell rang.

That seemed like an excessive reaction from this view across the pond. Alexander only warned him for that transgression and, even worse, didn’t say a word to Ball when he threw Doheny to the canvas in the sixth round.

Ball later held Doheny behind his head and hit him and applied a front face lock of his own in the eighth round. Alexander didn’t admonish Ball for either of those obvious fouls, either.

It wasn’t until Ball flung Doheny to the canvas again in the ninth round that Alexander deducted a point from him. Why did it take all of this rule-breaking behavior by Ball for Alexander to do what he should’ve done at the end of the first round?

Hometown fighters often get the benefit of the doubt on scorecards. The visiting boxer shouldn’t have to contend with inexplicable inaction from a referee as well.

Of course, Doheny (26-6, 20 KOs) isn’t in a position to complain all that much. He didn’t deserve a shot at Ball’s belt to begin with.

In fact, his technical-knockout loss to Ball (22-0-1, 13 KOs) marked the Irish southpaw’s second straight unwarranted championship chance. Undisputed 122-pound champion Naoya Inoue soundly defeated Doheny in his previous appearance, a TKO hastened by Doheny’s back injury early in the seventh round September 3 at Ariake Arena in Tokyo.

Naturally, WBA president Gilberto Mendoza considered Doheny’s lopsided loss to the Japanese superstar justification for sanctioning his title shot in a higher weight class in his next fight. Mendoza didn’t allow the facts that the 38-year-old Doheny hadn’t competed at featherweight in nearly three years or that he went 1-2 in his three prior featherweight fights to cloud his impeccable judgment, either.

UNDERRATED TRAINER: Austin “Ammo” Williams admitted after he beat Patrice Volny on Saturday night that he wouldn’t have won without Kevin Cunningham correcting his approach between rounds in Orlando, Florida.

Cunningham, a retired St. Louis police officer, has long been one of boxing’s most underrated trainers. His no-nonsense approach in the gym scares off fighters who can’t handle him holding them accountable.

Cunningham’s methods have nevertheless enabled him to thrive long after his work with St. Louis natives Cory Spinks and Devon Alexander was done. His honest approach, detailed instructions and motivational tactics between rounds were on full display during Williams’ victory over Volny, particularly after rounds when Williams strayed from the game plan.

Milwaukee’s Williams (18-1, 12 KOs) fended off the taller, crafty Volny (19-2, 13 KOs), whose high guard was tough to penetrate at times. Williams went to Volny’s body effectively to help secure just the type of victory he needed two fights after British contender Hamzah Sheeraz stopped him in the 11th round last June 1 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

THE FINAL BELL: What was Fred Fluty watching when the rest of us witnessed a competitive tactical battle between Williams and Volny? The Florida judge scored 10 of 12 rounds for Williams, who won 118-110 on his skewed scorecard at Caribe Royale Orlando. Judge Efrain Lebron’s score of 116-112 seemed a bit wide as well, whereas Mike Ross’ card, 115-113, was more reflective of the back-and-forth nature of DAZN’s main event. … Turns out Edgar Berlanga’s borderline dismissiveness of Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz derived from their sparring sessions. Berlanga apparently had his way with Gonzalez-Ortiz to the degree his handlers would’ve been disappointed if his fellow Puerto Rican made it to the second round Saturday night on the Williams-Volny undercard. Brooklyn’s Berlanga (23-1, 18 KOs) dropped Gonzalez-Ortiz twice and hurt him badly against the ropes before referee Christopher Young stepped between them to stop their scheduled 10-rounder at 2:31 of the opening round. Gonzalez-Ortiz lost for the first time as a pro (20-1-1, 16 KOs), but he had boxed only twice since May 2014 before he battled Berlanga because he served nearly 10 years in prison on an armed robbery conviction. He also competed mostly at junior middleweight and middleweight and faced a decided size disadvantage against Berlanga. … If Keith Thurman fights Tim Tszyu – or anyone else – sometime in 2025, it will mark the first time since 2019 that the former WBA/WBC welterweight champ competes twice in the same calendar year. Thurman, 36, has boxed only four times since he edged Danny Garcia by split decision in their welterweight title unification fight eight YEARS ago. … If you haven’t seen Piers Morgan’s in-depth interview with British rivals Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr., it is well worth watching in advance of their rescheduled showdown April 26 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.